Greek economy during WW2/German occupation

[WW2Researcher]

Greece's economy collapsed during the German occupation and the population suffered from famine (except the Nazi collaborators).

Who was more responsible for the famine, the Germans or the British, who had imposed a naval blockade?

[Stiltzkin]

This might be relevant https://archive.org/stream/worldeconomi ... rch/greece

[michael mills]

The document linked by Stiltzkin is a League of Nations publication dating from April 1945, ie just before the end of the war.

It states that in Greece there had been a "desperate scarcity of food and other supplies in a country which had been highly dependant on sea-borne trade and had lost its best farming region to Bulgaria".

That suggests two causes of the famine in Greece:

1. The ending of imports of food by sea, caused by the British blockade.

2. The ending of imports of food from the main food-producing region in the north of Greece, due to the annexation of that region by Bulgaria.

The famine was brought to an end when the British Government agreed to modify its blockade so as to allow shipments of food organised by the Red Cross to reach Greek ports. That suggests that the British blockade had been the main factor in causing the famine.

[pugsville]

The document linked by Stiltzkin is a League of Nations publication dating from April 1945, ie just before the end of the war.

It states that in Greece there had been a "desperate scarcity of food and other supplies in a country which had been highly dependant on sea-borne trade and had lost its best farming region to Bulgaria".

That suggests two causes of the famine in Greece:

1. The ending of imports of food by sea, caused by the British blockade.

2. The ending of imports of food from the main food-producing region in the north of Greece, due to the annexation of that region by Bulgaria.

The famine was brought to an end when the British Government agreed to modify its blockade so as to allow shipments of food organised by the Red Cross to reach Greek ports. That suggests that the British blockade had been the main factor in causing the famine.

The Management of Greece by the Occupation authorities certainly had a significant effect , read the wikipedia article.

"Moreover, the Bulgarians forbade any transportation of grain from their zone, where 30% of the Greek pre-war production took place, to the rest of the country["
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Greece)

[michael mills]

.........the population suffered from famine (except the Nazi collaborators).

A statement based on ignorance.

Whether a component of the population starved or had enough to eat was totally unrelated to "collaboration" or "resistance". It was entirely a factor of where that component was situated.

The famine of winter 1941-42 was concentrated in Athens and the Aegean islands, areas that had traditionally relied on seaborne food imports. Rural food-producing areas had enough to eat and did not suffer starvation.

The "collaborationist" Greek Government actually tried to organise food deliveries from rural areas to the famine-stricken cities, but the farmers resisted the requisition teams, sometimes with armed force, because they preferred to sell their surplus produce on the black market where prices were much higher.

[Stiltzkin]

The "collaborationist" Greek Government actually tried to organise food deliveries from rural areas to the famine-stricken cities

The contrary would result in upstirs and revolts, additional unrest the Wehrmacht surely tried to avoid. However collaborationists profited in an exponential way (but they usually made up only a small percentage). Special treatments for elites and conformists like in the communist satelleties represent a good analogy.